Illuminated mirror



Feb. 8, 1949. R. DE VlRGlLlS 2,461,315

ILLUMINATED MIRROR Filed Jan. 25, 1946 INVENTOR Richard DeVir'g/lis TORNEY Patented Feb. 8, i949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ILLUMINATED MIRROR Richard De Virgilis, Detroit, Mich.

Application January 25, 1946, Serial No. 643,351

1 Claim. 1

The mirror is of the kind known as a rear view mirror for automotive vehicles and is intended to be mounted on the side of such vehicle so that the light thrown by the illuminated portion of the mirror may be visible from points rearwardly of the vehicle.

The specific purpose of my invention is to provide a mirror with an illuminating element in an assembly in which the mirror is held in place by said illuminated part, forming a frame for the support thereof.

Further advantages of my construction will be apparent from the description of my improvement. I shall now disclose the details of said construction with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of my illuminated mirror.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. '3 is a sectional view of a detail on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a modified rim of my illuminated mirror.

Similar numerals refer throughout the several views.

The principal elements of my invention are a fiat opaque mirror ID, a translucent rim H forming a frame for said mirror, and a source of illumination 12. While these elements have already been combined before, my improvement lies in the manner of their combination, especially in the relation of the translucent rim to the mirror and to the source of light, as will be set forth herein.

The source of light may be a simple bulb as shown, the bulb being located in socket l3, axially disposed in a bushing l4, which is connected centrally to a reflector IS. The outer end of the bushing accommodates a ball I6 forming a connecting member for a hollow stem I! which serves as a support for the reflector. A coiled spring l8 within the bushing, but back of the socket, bears against the ball holding it in a yieldable, frictional abutment with an inwardly turned bead 19 at the outer end of said bushing. The ball and socket arrangement, which is already well known, makes it possible to adjust the mirror to any desired position. A wire 20 adapted to convey electric current to bulb l2, passes through the hollow stem from said bulb to similar parts 7 to a source of current within the body of the vehicle. As the details of the circuit are not a part of the invention, no further reference thereto seems necessary. The stem at its base is threaded, as shown at 2!, and equipped with an annular member 23 and a removable nut 22 to aid in mounting the stem in a suitable bracket, it being understood that said member would be disposed on one side of the bracket while the nut would be applied against the other side thereof.

The reflector l5, which is preferably made of sheet metal, has the form of a shallow cone and includes at its outer rim a flange 23. The flange is intended to be clamped upon the outer edge of the translucent ring H, which is to be made preferably of a suitable plastic, such as, for instance, Lucite. A shoulder 24 projecting in Wardly from the body of the ring serves as a retaining annular member for the fiat faced mirror It). The mirror is bonded around its circumference to said shoulder by a suitable cement or by suitable mechanical means. As the mirrior is opaque, the light produced by the bulb l2 shows only through said translucent ring H and will be visible only on the mirror side of the device.

In Fig. 4, I am showing a modification of the translucent ring 25 and a modification of the marginal portion 26 of the reflector 21, said marginal portion being in cross-section, concave and silvered to act as a reflecting unit of its own. The silver coating on said marginal portion 26 is indicated by numeral 28.

I wish to point out that in both cases, that is, in case of the mirror shown in Fig. 2 and in the modified structure illustrated in Fig. 4,.the mirror is in a plane spaced from the marginal portion of the reflector and that the translucent ring is interposed between the plane of the margina rim of the reflector and the plane of the mirror plate so that the light from the bulb back of the mirror plate may be seen from the side of the assembly and from the direction facing the mirror. The side illumination serves as a warning light indicating the presence of the automobile on the road. This feature for the purpose of difiusing light sideways is a novel feature of construction which I wish to stress, presenting therefore the following claim.

I claim: 7 REFERENCES "CITED In an illuminated mirror, including a concave L reflector, a source of light centrally located thereg g s g ggf g ences me of record m in, an opaque mirror in front of the source of light, a translucent member framing the mirror 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS and interposed between the plane of said mirror Number Name Date and the plane of marginal portion of the re- 1 138 552 Goddard May 4 1915 flector for transmission of light sideways, said 2253952 Desimone Aug 1941 marginal portion being curved inwardly and 2295176 Kelly Sept 1942 silvered for reflection of light through the body 1 fl of said translucent member in the direction FOREIGN PATENTS facing said Number Country Date RICHARD DE VIRGILIS- 707,793 France Apr. 20, 1931 

